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Class 

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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



The Cattle of the Sea 

Interesting Facts Concerning the 

Place of Fish in the 

Daily Diet 



By C. HOUSTON GOUDISS 

Food Advisor of The People's Home Journal; Author of 

"Foods that Will Win the War" and "Making 

the Most of Our Meat Supply"; Food 

Economist of national 

reputation. 



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PRIVATELY PRINTED BY 

THE PEOPLES HOME JOURNAL 

NEW YORK 






COPYRIGHT, 1921 

F. M. LUPTON, PUBLISHER 

NEW YORK 



MAR 14 1^22 



0)Ci.A654 9:i2 



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HE most interesting and timely of fish facts is 
this — that even now we Americans do not eat 
enough of these delicious and nutritious water- 
born foods. 

True enough, our consumption of them has 
largely increased within the past twentj^-five years, 
and still is gi'owing. Refrigerator cars, which make 
possible transportation of fresh fish to points far 
inland, and the building of canneries on banks of 
rivers and shores of seas, have been the chief factors 
in the change. Despite these advances, however, 
America's annual meat bill is to-day twenty-five 
times as large as her fish bill. Allowing for the dif- 
ference in cost between the two, this means that each 
year we eat about eighteen times as much meat 
as fish. 

There are two main reasons for this. One is the 
no-fish habit unconsciously formed by that large 
portion of our population living in inland towns, 
formerly deprived of fresh fish, save such as were 
lured from nearby little streams by boys and faith- 
ful followers of Izaak Walton. The other is a logi- 



THE CATTLE OF THE SEA 



cal sequence — lack of knowledge on the part of 
American housewives as to the many and palatable 
ways in which fish can be prepared. 

Fish is a World-Food 

WHERE^^ER water flows or beats in waves, fish is 
held in esteem as a food. As far back as history can 
be traced we find evidence of its popularity, and 
the never-ending abundance of its supply seems to 
indicate nature planned it as one of our chief articles 
of diet. 

As common!}^ used, the term "fish" includes oys- 
ters, clams, lobsters, crawfish, crabs, shrimps, turtle 
and terrapin, in addition to the scaly members of 
watery tribes to which the name is definitely given. 
These widespread food creatures are divided into 
two main groups — fresh-water and salt-water. The 
latter predominate. 

From the sea comes so wide a range as to include 
the tinv sardine and the monstrous whale — though 
the latter really is not a "fish," but a mammal. Be- 
tween these extremes are so many variations in size, 
form and flavor that to deal with all of them would 
require a book as big as the dictionary. They fall 
naturalh'^ into three general groups — small fish, 
large fish, and shell fish. 

The Nutritive Value of Fish 

In each of these forms fish is universally recog- 
nized as an important food material, and while we 
Americans have not yet given it the place it should 

4 



THE CATTLE OF THE SEA 



have in om* diet, the annual catch of fresh and salt- 
water fish in this country and Alaska now runs close 
to 4,000,000,000 pounds. And although some per- 
sons still regard fish as more or less an "incidental" 
among food materials, science says it contains the 
same kind of nutrients as other food materials. Be- 
ing essentially a nitrogenous food, it closely resem- 
bles meat. 

Like meat, fish provides fat and protein — the best 
of fuels and the best of building materials. From 
the standpoint of both nutritive value and palat- 
ability it is a most important food product. Fish, 
meat, eggs, milk and some cereals and vegetable food 
all supply fat in varying amount. Fresh fish usually 
contain less fat than is found in meat, and dried fish 
are richer in nutritive material, pound for pound. 
Canned fish, which really is cooked fish, compares 
favorably with the fresh material. 

The fish richest in fat are salmon, shad, herring, 
Spanish mackerel and butter fish. Those with a 
moderate amount are white fish, mackerel, halibut 
and porgie, while smelt, black bass, blue fish, white 
perch, weak fish, brook trout, hake, yellow perch, 
pike, sea bass, cod and haddock provide a minimum. 

A pound of any fish rich in fat provides about the 
same heat, energy and building power as a pound 
of average lean meat. And while the caloric value of 
oysters is less than that of nearly any other sea food, 
it is interesting to know they come nearer to milk 
than almost any other common food material as 
regards both the amounts and relative proportions 



THE CATTLE OF THE SEA 



of nutrients. Roughly speaking, a quart of oysters 
contains about the same quantity of actual nutritive 
substances as a quart of milk. This does not mean 
babies and young cliildren should be fed on them, 
but it does mean that those of delicate digestion can 
depend on oysters for nutrition. 

The Fish that Comes in Cans 

The growth of the canned fish industry in this 
country within the last twenty-five j-ears is one of 
the most remarkable of modern food developments. 
Fish was among the last of foodstuffs to be regarded 
as fit for canning, yet when it was found this could 
be done with eminently satisfactory results, there 
budded an experiment which now has flowered into 
one of the vastest of our industries. 

This development has given the pink-fleshed sal- 
mon a place of pre-eminence in ^\jnerican homes, 
and thus made it the chief of our connecting links 
between the sea and the dinner table. 

The Romance of the Salmon 

In all the realm of food is no story more tinctured 
with romance and adventure than that of the salmon. 
Somewhere in the depths of the sea — no man has yet 
been able to discover these haunts — countless multi- 
tudes of salmon swim and grow fat. Then, after 
having reached maturity, once a year they leave 
their ocean home, and guided by some mysterious 
instinct, return to the rivers in which they were born, 
there to lay and fructify the eggs which insure con- 
tinuity of the species. 

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THE CATTLE OF THE SEA 



On both our coasts they carry out this annual 
program, but in far greater numbers on the North 
Pacific and Alaskan coasts. To ascend the rivers it 
is necessary for them to climb as well as swim, for 
often they are impeded by rocks and waterfalls. 
They do not permit such obstacles to interfere with 
their purpose, however, and being very powerful, 
they leap up the sides of great rocks or make use of 
ladders which men have placed conveniently to ease 
their journey. 

Coming as they do in great numbers, it is easy to 
catch them, and as soon as caught they are sorted, 
cleaned and canned in huge factories where every 
modern improvement is made use of to facilitate 
the pi-ocess and insure sanitary protection to the 
consmner. 

There are several different species of salmon, all 
excellent for food use, though the so-called Chinook 
and the Sockeye are generally regarded as superior 
in flesh and flavor. These difl'erent salmon rim in 
weight from five to ninety pounds, and when canned 
they contain an average of about 53 per cent of 
protein, 40 per cent of fat, and 6 per cent of ash. 

Of them it may be said that they did almost as 
much to win the war as their larger brothers, the 
submarine chasers, for canned salmon was one of 
the chief articles of food sent abroad to sustain our 
own soldiers and those of the allied forces. Long be- 
fore the war, however, this delicious foodstuff^, which 
is capable of so many variations in serving, had won 
its way into public favor, and at the present time 

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THE CATTLE OF THE SEA 



may be said to be the most popular of all fish in 
America. 

jNIore recently the tuna fish, another member of 
the large-body group, has been steadily growing in 
favor as a canned fish. Like the salmon, it is a Pa- 
cific coast product, though it inliabits the southern 
waters. Unlike the sahnon, its meat is almost Avhite 
in color. 

The tuna has a delicate flavor, tasting almost like 
breast of chicken — in fact, it has been called "sea 
chicken" — and is especially adapted to creamed fish 
dishes and salads. 

In buj'ing salmon it is well to remember that the 
best qualities usually are labeled red salmon, after 
which comes the pink and the so-called chum salmon. 
The difference in these three general classifications 
refers not only to color, but to some extent to flavor 
and texture, and the Chinook or red salmon is usual- 
ly regarded as the finest quality. There is, however, 
no difference in food value and where cost is an item 
the pink and chum salmon should l)e chosen, as these 
varieties are very much cheaper than the red. In 
fact, the practical housewife sliould use the cheaper 
grades for all made dishes, as a demand for these 
varieties would tend to modify the price of the red, 
which now sells at a very high figure. 

Next to salmon and tuna in canned fish, the sar- 
dine occupies a most popular place. The true sar- 
dine is not found in American waters, but millions of 
cans annually are imported to this country from 
Spain, Portugal, and the Scandinavian countries. 

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THE CATTLE OF THE SEA 



There are certain small fish of about the same size, 
however, caught in large quantities off the coast of 
Maine and known as American sardines, and these 
find ready sale in all parts of the country, first be- 
cause of their goodness and second because of their 
relative cheapness. ^Vlien packed in oil, as is the 
common method of preparation, sardines become 
one of the most highly nutritious of all fish, and they 
too can be served in numerous ways. 

On a par with canned fish in their convenience and 
year-roimd seasonableness are dried and salt fish, 
and among these the cod and herring are acknowl- 
edged leaders. Vast quantities of cod are caught 
both on our Atlantic and Pacific coasts and this fish 
ranks among the most popular that are commonly 
used — codfish cakes for Sunday breakfast being a 
fixed custom in some sections. 

The Widening Use of Fresh Fish 

Quick transportation and the employment of re- 
frigerator cars have made possible within recent 
years a largely increased use of both fresh and salt- 
water fish in all save the remotest and most sparsely 
settled districts. To-day there is no inland city and 
hardly an inland town of any size in which fresh sea- 
food in good condition cannot be had at least once 
or twice a week. This applies not only to the finny 
members of the tribe, but also to shell fish and crusta- 
ceans. Although oysters still are canned and shipped 
in ice to many markets, large quantities of live oys- 
ters in the shell are sent every day during the season 



THE CATTLE OF THE SEA 



to cities and towns wliich twenty years ago were 
denied this tempting food in its most alluring form. 

Tlie same is true of fresh cod, halibut, flounder, 
Spanish mackerel, sea bass, smelt, hake, haddock 
and shad in season. In all of the larger cities these 
will be found in market, and in addition to them it is 
possible to buy varieties whicli abound near at hand. 
In the Mississippi valley, for instance, great quan- 
tities of catflsh arc annually consmned, and in the 
Great Lakes regions we find the red snapper and 
the delicate whitefish, while those who live in the 
vicinity of the Gulf of Mexico revel in the pompano 
and other varieties indigenous to that body of 
warmer water. The cooking of pompano in New 
Orleans is a work of art. 

Indeed with the present-day supply of canned 
and dried and fresh fish, it is possible for any house- 
hold to thus vary the menu at least three times a 
week and still provide non-tiring variety. Yet our 
annual per capita consumption of fish is little more 
than twenty pounds, while that of Great Britain is 
fifteen times as much. 

Some Fish Questions Anstaered 

With fish, as with every other form of food, cer- 
tain ideas, many of them false, have gained general 
circulation. First of all is the widespread notion that 
fish and milk do not mix well in the stomach — espe- 
cially that ice cream or milk should never be taken 
with crabs, shrimps, oysters, or lobsters. The fact 
of this matter is that fish and milk do not agree with 

10 



THE CATTLE OF THE SEA 



some persons, just as milk or some other food may 
not agree. When such is the case, fish and milk 
should not be eaten together. 

There are many who wonder if fish is easily di- 
gestible. All such should read the following from 
a government bulletin dealing with fish as food : 

"The numerous artificial digestion experiments which 
have been made with fish indicate that it is less quickly 
digested than beef, being about equal to lamb in this re- 
spect. However, as compared with other foods, the differ- 
ence in the digestibility of fish and meat, as shown by these 
experiments, is not very great. In some carefully conducted 
experiments, which were reported only a few years ago by 
a German investigator, it was noted that oysters, white- 
fish, and shellfish, taken in moderate amounts, left the 
stomach in two to three hours, in this respect resembling 
eggs, milk, white bread, and some other foods. Caviar left 
the stomach in three hours to four hours, as did also 
chicken, lean beef, boiled ham, beefsteak, coarse bread, etc. 
Salt herring left the stomach in four to five hours, other 
foods, in the same class being smoked tongue, roast beef, 
roast goose, lentil porridge, and peas porridge. So far as 
fish is concerned, the general deduction from these experi- 
ments was that it is more rapidly digested than meat. With 
respect to its rapidity of digestion in the stomach, another 
German investigator includes whitefish in the same class 
as the following animal foods : Roast chicken, pigeon, roast 
veal, and cold underdone roast beef." 

Is fish a brain food ? 

No more so than any other food which supplies 
the necessary elements of nutrition. This impression 
has gained ground because the brain is known to 
contain phosphorus and this element is also present 

11 



THE CATTLE OF THE SEA 



in fish. In the sense that fish nourishes the body 
it is, of course, a brain food. But not in any other 
sense. 

Then there is the common wonder as to whether 
coarse fish such as cod, salmon and hahbut are as 
easily digested as smaller fish like perch, bass and 
brook trout. 

In this matter science tells us the texture of the 
fish has little influence upon its digestion. And 
science also informs us that the stomach welcomes 
canned fish in exactly the same measure as fresh fish, 
and handles it with similar ease. 

The sooner our people come to appreciate the 
worth of fish as a highlj' nutritious, easily digested 
food, the better it will be for all of us. Such appre- 
ciation will lead to largely increased use, and this 
will prompt those connected Math the industry to 
increase the supply and at the same time pay more 
attention to the proper preservation both of product 
and source. 

It will do more than this. It will provide an ideal 
substitute for a fast-failing supply of meat — and 
at a cost of production so low as to guarantee at 
least reasonable prices. For fish take care of their 
young and feed themselves. We merely catch them 
after nature has produced them. Neither eggs nor 
meat can be secured at so low a cost. Hence the 
importance of eating more fish. 

The following recipes illustrate some of the many 
dainty and novel ways in which canned fish may be 
served. The recipes are intended to be of service to 

12 



THE CATTLE OF THE SEA 



those readers of Mr. Goudiss' article on the preced- 
ing pages who may feel that they have neglected 
fish in the past and who would like to have it more 
frequently on the table in the future. 



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RECIPES 

Fish Ti nib ales 

Mix one cupful of soft bread crumbs with one cupful of milk and 
cook slowly for ten minutes, until the mixture is smooth. Mash one 
and one-half cupfuls of canned salmon, tuna, haddock or cod and 
press through a coarse strainer or a meat cliopper. Add to the bread- 
and-milk mixture one-third cu])ful of milk, two beaten eggs, four 
tablespoonfuls of melted butter, one teaspoonful of salt and one table- 
spoonful of chi)])pcd parsley or pimento. Line buttered individual 
molds with rice or spaghetti and fill with the fish mixture. Place the 
molds in a pan of hot water, cover and bake for thirty minutes in a 
moderate oven. Turn out on a hot platter and serve with parsley or 
pimento sauce. 

Lobster a la Newburg 

Cut in slices one pound of canned lobster and cook for three min- 
utes in one-fourth cupful of melted butter. Add one teaspoonful of 
salt, a few grains of cayenne and of nutmeg and two tablespoonfuls 
of corn-starch. Mix carefully and stir in one cupful of rich milk and 
the beaten yolks of two eggs. Continue stirring until the mixture has 
thickened, then add one tablespoonful of lemon juice and serve im- 
mediately on thin strips of toast. 

Fish Loaf 

Remove skin and bones from one pound of canned fish. Mix with 
one cupful of soft bread crumbs, one teaspoonful of salt, one-eighth 
teaspoonful of pepper, one teaspoonful of celery salt, two eggs and 
one cupful of milk. One tablespoonful of chopped parsley or pimento 
gives added flavor. Mix thoroughly and pack into a greased bread 
tin or baking dish. Bake in a moderate oven about thirty minutes. 
Turn out and serve with parsley sauce. 

Molded Fish Salad 

Separate into flakes a half-pound of canned tuna fish or salmon. 
Mix carefully with one cupful of diced celery, one tablespoonful of 
chopped green peppers, two tablespoonfuls of chopped olives and 
three-fourths cup of cooked salad dressing. Add two teaspoonfuls of 
vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Soak two tablespoonfuls of 
gelatine in one-fourth cup of cold water for five minutes. Dissolve 
by placing over hot water, then stir into the fish mixture. Turn into 
small wet molds and set aside to chill. Serve on lettuce or watercress 
and garnish with celery tips, slices of stuffed olives and pieces of green 
pepper, pimento or parsley. 

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THE CATTLE OF THE SEA 



Shrimp and Tomato Currij 

Melt four tablespoonfuls of butter, add four tablespoonfuls of 
flour and one teaspoonful of curry powder. When bubbling, stir in 
one cup of boiling water and one cup of strained tomato juice. Cook 
until thick and smooth, season with salt and pepper and add two 
cupfuls of canned shrimp broken in halves. Reheat and serve with a 
border or cones of boiled rice. 



Crah Meat a la King 



Melt two tablespoonfuls of butter, add three tablespoonfuls of 
flour, then stir in one and one-half cupfuls of rich milk. Cook until 
thick and smooth, add three-fourths teaspoonful of salt, one beaten 
egg, one and one-half cupfuls of crab meat separated in flakes, one- 
fourth cupful of pimento cut in strips, one tablespoonful of lemon 
juice and one-half cupful of canned mushrooms. Reheat to the boil- 
ing point, being careful not to break the fish by hard stirring. Add 
two tablespoonfuls of butter, a little at a time. Garnish with toast 
points and parsley or pimento strips or serve in patty shells. 

Tuna Fish Short cahe 

Substitute tuna fi.sh for crab meat in recipe for Crab Meat a la 
King, omitting the mushrooms and pimento and adding one table- 
spoonful of chopped parsley. Bake small biscuits, split and put a 
generous spoonful of the fish mixture between and on top. Garnish 
with parsley or paprika and serve very hot. 

Salt Cod en Casserole 

Wash one pound of boneless salt codfish and soak over night or 
for several hours in cold water. Drain and rinse. Cover with boiling 
water and let simmer for ten minutes, then drain and break into 
pieces. Melt three tablespoonfuls of butter or substitute, add one 
small onion cut in thin slices and cook slowly for five minutes. Add 
the fish, one cupful of boiled rice and two cupfuls of canned to- 
matoes. Pour into a casserole dish, cover and cook slowly for thirty 
to forty minutes. Before serving, season to taste. 

Planked Shad 

Clean and split a three-pound shad. Place skin downward on a 
greased plank that is a little longer and wider than the fish. Sprinkle 
with salt and pepper and brush with melted butter. Bake in a hot 
oven for hventy-five minutes. Remove from oven, spread with butter 
and garnish with parsley and slices of lemon. Mashed potato, mixed 
with beaten egg, add an attractive border. Halibut, mackerel or 
haddock may be planked in a similar way. 

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THE CATTLE OF THE SEA 



Macaroni, Fish and Pimento Scallop 

Cook enough macaroni to make two cupfuls. Flake two cupfuls 
of any cooked fish. Make two cupfuls of well-seasoned white sauce 
and chop two pimentos. Put alternate layers of macaroni, fish, white 
sauce and pimentos in a well-greased baking dish. Cover the top with 
one-half cupful of buttered crumbs and bake in a hot oven until the 
crumbs arc brown. 

Fish Cutlets 

Melt three tablespoonfuls of butter or substitute, add one-half 
tablespoonful of finely chopped onion and two tablespoonfuls of 
finely chopped pimento. Cook slowly for five minutes, stirring con- 
stantly. Add one-third cupful of flour and when well mixed stir In 
one-half cupful of milk and one-half cupful of cream or evaporated 
milk. Cook until thick and smooth, add two cupfuls of cold flaked 
fish, one-half teaspoonful of salt and one-fourth teaspoonful of 
paprika. Spread out on a platter to cool. Shape into small cutlets, 
dip in fine crumbs, then in beaten egg and then in crumbs again. Fry 
in deep hot fat. Drain on soft paper and serve with a well seasoned 
sauce. 



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